Excitement surrounds Chick-fil-A's opening on UNK campus

A new dining option opened up in Kearney on Thursday, as both students and faculty at UNK shared their excitement about Chick-fil–A's official opening on campus.

"I've only been here for a week but we've been waiting all week for a Chick-fil-A to open," said UNK Grad student Jenny Gottsch. "We actually, we saw someone in line so we all decided to go, about 15 of us!"

That same excitement resounded as the only full service Chick–fil–A restaurant West of Lincoln opened at the Nebraskan Student Union.

Former students say they're glad for the variety that's come to campus, and Dining Services officials say while food options may not be the key reason to choose a school, they see retail and residential dining going hand in hand when it comes to a student's final decision.

"People kinda got burnt out eating the same foods over and over," said UNK's Austin Nuxoll. "And so it's nice to have a healthy option with Subway and Chick-fil-A where you can't get anywhere else in town and I think it will attract students to come here and eat more often."

"It certainly makes a difference when a kid is making a decision to feel comfortable where they're going to get taken care of where they feel like the college is really making an effort to give them what they want," said UNK's Dining Services Director Brian Scherbarth.

Mr. Sherbarth said the University as a whole was ready to make it a reality.

"It's so satisfying cuz the students have waited a long time for this. This construction started last November, it's taken a while, we've talked about it, so there's a lot of pride to be able to open it up and say 'here you go guys'."

Chick-fil-A joins Starbucks and Subway in the newly remodeled student union and welcomes the public as well as students.